Textual Analysis Of Music Videos - Scar

   Scar a single from Australian singer Missy Higgins, and the video was directed by Squareyed Films. It can be catagorised as an amplification video due to the fact the video does not directly translate the lyrics into visuals, but it contains the main concept of the song: that she is imperfect. It does this by having the piano fall apart around her, however she keeps playing and at one point fixing a part of it with a shoelace.
  There is not much of a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, as the video is entirely composed of Missy playing instruments while singing. However there is a relationship between the music and the visuals ass she plays both the guitar and the piano in time with the music.
  Due to the concept of the video - the artist playing a piano - there are lots of different camera shots and close ups of Missy and the different parts of the piano to make it more interesting. However there is no reference to the notion of looking as the audience appears to be looking in on the story, rather than being a part of it - which could be because the lyrics to the song seem to be of something personal to the artist, and the audience is just getting a snapshot of her life. I think the video is trying to get the audience to relate to the song rather than be a part of it due to the lyrics "Doesn't that sound familiar..." which seem as though they are her own private thoughts, which would be why she doesn't look directly into the camera.

Textual Analysis Of Music Videos - 22

     Taylor Swift is an American Country-Pop artist and this video was directed by Anthony Mandler, whom has worked with artists such as Rhianna, The Killers and Lana Del Ray.
   The video begins with Taylor standing in front of a white screen wearing a T-Shirt with the phrase "Not A Lot Going On At The Moment" written on it. This is used to reinforce the songs view of being 22 and 'free' to do anything she wants. In the first line she sings "to dress up like hipsters" when she puts on some stereotypical Hipster glasses therefore creating a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals.
The dancing within the video provides a relationship between the music and the visuals as it appears as though they are moving in time with the beat.
   Throughout the song, the camera cuts to different locations, in a kitchen, in the garden in front of the white screen and later at a party. This illustrates the busy and energetic life of being a 22 year old, and the outfits worn in the video are all typically associated with a young adult.
The notion of looking is apparent in this video as Taylor frequently looks into the camera making the audience feel more involved with the video.
22 is an illustration video as there is a close connection between the lyrics and the visuals, such as dancing with the lyric 'dancing like we're 22'

My Music Video

For the music video, I am working in a pair with Izzy Zanker. This will be beneficial as there will be a variety of ideas on what sort of style to have and the content of the video. By working together we can evenly distribute the workload and so each produce a much better quality of work rather than working individually.

We have decided to have a female artist and a genre of 'indie pop' as we believe this will allow us to make a good video on a lower budget.

Yellowcard - Ocean Avenue

Album Covers

   During my research into different artists and genres of music I looked at album artwork. This allowed me to identify similar themes that were in each piece of artwork, such as the name of the artist and an image created to catch the audiences attention. Only around 15 of the albums actually feature the singer or the band on the album, with most favouring to use art instead to make their album eye catching. This shows me that in order to make a good album cover, the artist is not needed.
 However more of the well known artists such as Paloma Faith, James Blunt, Shy'm (A french singer), and Taylor Swift, actually use portraits of themselves on the album. This would imply that the more well known a singer becomes, the more they use themselves and their image as a unique selling point, whereas the lesser known artists, or those with a more alternative genre are likely to use other artwork such as paintings.

Music Video Introduction

VIDEO KILLED THE RADIO STAR Music Video Introduction 2013.docx

Four Year Strong - It Must Really Suck To Be Four Year Strong Right Now

We The Kings - Skyway Avenue

Blink 182 - Always

All American Rejects - Dirty Little Secret

In this video I like the concept of the people holding up signs with their secrets on them.

Alexander Rybak - Funny Little World

Adam Lambert - Better Than I Know Myself

I really like this video as it is unlike any others I have seen. There is only one person in the entire video, but the impression of two is given because of the different set and costumes used, and put together. Half of the video is filmed with a blue tinge and has Adam wearing a black leather coat. The other half has yellow/golden  tones, where Adam is dressed in a woolly cardigan. However, where he is in a blue tinge - he has yellow eyes, and where he is filmed in yellow tones, he has blue eyes. I think the story is interesting, and different to other 'love songs.'

Motion City Soundtrack - L. G. FUAD

   I really love this video because the camera focuses on a variety of different people that pick up the song, and shows a little insight into their everyday life. I also enjoy how the lead singer of the band begins singing the song, and again at the end where there is a performance clip as it illustrates a cycle.

A2 Media Studies Schedule 2013-2014

A2 Media Studies Schedule 2013-2014 Lutterworth College.docx

Post Production

   The post production was very successful as we managed to complete that in a short amount of time to a good standard for a prelim video. We did not film the shots in the order that they appeared on the storyboard, so we first had to cut down the shots we wanted and put them in the right order, parallel to the song - we had to match up the song to the lip syncing. The most difficult part of the process was figuring out how to incorporate the photographs into the video. We did this by cutting down their duration (which was automatically set at around 10 minutes) to a fraction of a second. We also sped up some of the footage, such as the clock turning. This enabled us to fit in the footage that we wanted into the short time frame.

Production Of The Prelim

  We managed to film the music video in around three hours. The filming locations were around school, so very easily accessible which enabled us to spend more time re-filming anything that didn't quite work. Therefore we could collect a variety of different shots and choose the best ones, which would help during editing.  I think the filming was successful as we managed to get every member of the group in the end video, and created a group shot by using a tripod to sit the camera on while it was filming. In one of the scenes of the video, we were in a sweet shop, so acquired permission from the owner to film in there and we set the camera to continuously take shots over a period of ten seconds to produce a variety of photograph which we would edit into the film.

Pre-Production Of The Prelim

   During the pre-production we used conventional methods in planning. After choosing the song 'Stay Out' by Nina Nesbitt, we created a storyboard which allowed us to gather our thoughts together into one final vision that could be used to aid us during the filming. It specified the types of shots that we would use, the number of seconds for each shot and the lyrics or music that we wished to appear in the shot. We also used prop lists to ensure we had the right costumes and equipment to use in the video, and clearly distributed the tools to collect between each person.
   The pre-production was successful as we managed to completely plan our video and discuss the locations for filming, which allowed us to be much more productive in the following sessions where we were filming. Therefore from the pre-production I learnt that good planning is essential for completing a project as it gives a clear direction for filming.

Preliminary Video

Prelim Prop List

Prelim Storyboard

Continuity Exercise